UPDATE:

U.S. 77 and Old Highway 77 northwest of Junction City reopened to traffic about 10:30 p.m. following an accident about 7 o’clock Friday evening. No one was injured, but traffic lights and three of four power poles that housed the lights and wiring for that intersection were knocked down by an oversized load that caught one of the overhead wires and pulled them all down. A semi-truck traveling northbound had been transporting a large generator.

Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges said motorists coming off Old Highway 77, from Estes Gate at Fort Riley, will have a stop sign controlling that intersection for approximately the next 30 days until repairs are made. An entirely new system will have to be brought in.

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An oversize load involving the transport of a generator went through the intersection of U.S. 77 and Old 77 about 7 p.m., heading northbound. Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges confirmed there was an accident. “Something caught the wires up above and pulled down and ripped out the traffic signals, and three of the four poles.” No one was injured, but traffic is being impacted.

Berges said the area is blocked off. “Anybody that wants to try to get north has to go around the face of the dam.” A west-side entrance to Fort Riley, Estes Gate, has been closed. “So they’ll need to find a different way….go in off of Washington Street, probably for the next three to four hours.”

Berges said a lot of wires and electrical wires are down so you should avoid the area. U.S. 77 in both directions from K-57 north to Old Milford Road, which is about a three-mile stretch of highway.

The Kansas Highway Patrol, Geary County Sheriff’s Department, Geary County Emergency Management and KDOT officials have responded to the site where the accident occurred.